The Maharashtra government on Friday, November 6, promulgated an ordinance amending Section 73AAA of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, empowering the state to nominate five members to the managing committees of state-level federal co-operative societies that record an annual turnover above Rs 500 crore and receive state assistance, IANS reported from Mumbai.

Source: IANS via Hi India

The Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026 (Ordinance No. XVI of 2026) was promulgated by Governor Jishnu Dev Verma with immediate effect, since both Houses of the state legislature are not in session, under Article 213 of the Constitution. It follows the state Cabinet's approval of the amendment on November 4 — the decision Awaaz Punjab reported earlier this week when it set off the Gokul Dairy board row and a protest announcement by Congress leader Satej Patil.

Under the ordinance, the five nominees to an eligible society's managing committee will include four non-official expert members with full voting rights in committee meetings and one nominated government officer without voting rights. None of the five will be eligible to contest or be elected as office-bearers such as chairman or vice-chairman. The provision covers federal societies receiving government support in the form of share capital, loans, guarantees, subsidies, government land or other assistance, and excludes District Central Co-operative Banks, IANS reported, citing the ordinance's Statement of Objects and Reasons issued under Principal Secretary Pravin Darade.

The immediate battleground is the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers Union, known as Gokul Dairy. In the October 19 election to its 25-member board, a Congress-backed panel led by Congress MLC Satej Patil won 13 seats against 12 for the BJP-backed Mahayuti panel — one short of the 14-member quorum needed to elect a chairman, and repeated meetings failed for want of quorum, India Today reported. The Bombay High Court has directed a fresh meeting on November 10 to elect the chairman.

Source: India Today

With four voting nominees added, the Mahayuti tally on the Gokul board could rise to 16, past the quorum and majority mark, according to the arithmetic reported by IANS. Patil, whose alliance secured the elected majority, has fiercely criticised the amendment as overturning the producers' mandate and is expected to challenge the ordinance's constitutionality in court before the November 10 chairman election, IANS reported. The government has defended the move citing repeated quorum failures and the Advocate General's legal opinion, according to earlier reports.

Source: Urban Acres

What happens next turns on two dates: the court challenge Patil is expected to file against the ordinance, and the November 10 meeting at which Gokul's directors are to elect their chairman under the High Court's direction. Whether the state's nominees are seated before that vote, and whether a court stays the ordinance, will decide who controls one of Maharashtra's largest milk cooperatives.